Pixar Reportedly Removed Gay Storyline from 'Luca'

Some new details are coming out about Pixar’s movie Luca.

Disney has been under fire the last few weeks since the Florida state legislature passed a bill designed to ban the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.

Those opposed to the legislature called on Disney to stop funding politicians who support the bill, with Disney employees and LGBTQ+ organizations demanding that CEO Bob Chapek speak out against it.

The backlash has caused a renewed interest in the relationship between the company and the LGBTQ community, with many scrutinizing the limited representation of gay characters in Disney films. According to a report from Variety, what allegedly happened behind the scenes of Luca exemplifies the self-censorship at the studio.

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The movie explores the friendship between two male sea monsters, with some critics interpretation their relationship as something more romantic.

“Some people seem to get mad that I’m not saying yes or no, but I feel like, well, this is a movie about being open to any difference,” the film’s director Enrico Casarosa said.

Two sources told Variety that Luca‘s filmmakers also discussed whether or not the character Giulia (Emma Berman), a human girl who begins a friendship with Luca and Alberto, should be queer. One insider explained that creative team could not figure out how to do it without explicitly giving her a girlfriend.

“We very often came up against the question of, ‘How do we do this without giving them a love interest?’” one source who worked at the studio said. “That comes up very often at Pixar.”

Multiple sources also shared that references to the LGBTQ community in the set design of films were allegedly shut down, with one example being a rainbow sticker in the window of a shop being removed because it was too “distracting.”

Other insiders claimed that same-sex couples had been removed from the background of more recent films, though one source said they do appear in Soul.

“We very often came up against the question of, ‘How do we do this without giving them a love interest?’” the Pixar employee said, noting that the studio ultimately decided against the idea. “That comes up very often at Pixar.”

Last week it was announced a same-sex kiss had been restored in Lightyear amid all the backlash surrounding Disney.